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NTHU’s Department of Power Mechanical Engineering Ranked Highest in Taiwan

On March 8 2017 the international higher education information organization Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) announced its latest World University Rankings by Subject. NTHU’s Department of Power Mechanical Engineering was ranked 38th in the field of mechanical engineering—the highest in Taiwan! Moreover, NTHU’s Department of Physics and Institute of Astronomy have been moved up in the rankings for the past three, and in the latest rankings both entered the top 100.

According to Hwan-you Chang, Associate Director of the Office of Research and Development, in the latest QS rankings NTHU again received outstanding marks. In comparison with the previous year, NTHU’s rankings improved in four broad subject areas: the humanities, natural sciences, engineering, and the social sciences. In three specific subjects NTHU entered the top 50: electrical engineering (no. 30), mechanical engineering (no. 38), and materials science (no. 48). In another six subjects NTHU was ranked between 51 and 100 i.e.: linguistics, computer science, chemical engineering, chemistry, physics and astronomy, and statistics.

In the subject of electrical engineering, NTHU was ranked at the 40th in 2016, but drastically jumped to the 30th in 2017.

In the 2015 and 2016 rankings for mechanical engineering, NTHU was ranked among the top 51-100, but this year rose to the 38th—the highest ranking ever for NTHU. According to Tsai Hung-yin, Chair of the Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, in recent years both the faculty members and students in his department have been very active in international academia. At present 14 of the department’s teachers are members of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and four are members of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Furthermore, in recent years a number of student groups have gone abroad to represent NTHU at international competitions in such areas as robotics and race cars.

Dr. Tsai also pointed out that the Department of Power Mechanical Engineering added programs in nano-engineering and micro-systems in 2015, and since then a number of outstanding teachers in the fields of micro-electromechanical systems and nano-engineering have joined the department. In addition, the Department boasts a number of eminent alumni, including Vigor Yang, the William R. T. Oakes Professor and Chair of the School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and an Academician of Academia Sinica and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Amongst the Department’s many alumni now holding top positions in the high-tech industry, one who stands out is Huang Youzhi, the technical director at Largan Precision. The Department’s strong reputation has also been enhanced by its many graduates who have gone on to establish successful companies.

This year NTHU has entered the top 100 in the subjects of physics and astronomy. According to Professor Mou Chung-yu, Chair of the Department of Physics, the QS ranking criteria includes such items as academic reputation, alumni performance, and citations per paper—in all of which his Department has excelled in recent years. In addition to outstanding performance in the area of faculty publications (especially in highly influential journals), the Department has also made major progress in the area of internationalization, as indicated by participation in large-scale international research teams working in such areas as high-energy physics and the Hadron Collider Project; in the area of astrophysics, NTHU faculty have joined the ALMA program located in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.

Dr. Mou says that in recent years the Department of Physics and the Institute of Astronomy have gone all out in recruiting outstanding faculty, including top-notch professors from Spain, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. This is one of the reasons why his Department has done so well in this year’s rankings.

Ever since QS added the subject of materials science, NTHU’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering has been ranked in the top 100, and the entire Department was very excited to have moved-up to the top fifty in the latest rankings.

Subjects that were ranked in the top 100 in QS Rankings, 2017.

QS ranking

Subject

Top 50

electrical engineering (30)

mechanical engineering (38)

materials science (48)

51-100

linguistics

computer science

chemical engineering

chemistry

physics and astronomy

statistics

President Hong Hocheng presenting a banner to the NTHU Racing team prior to their departure to the Student Formula Japan competition in September 2016.

Comprised mainly of students from the Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, for several years in a row the DIT Robotics group has participated in robotics competitions held in Europe.